Portland, Oregon is occupied territory. It was invaded years ago by a non-native species of political animal from back east who took over our political and cultural institutions in order to try out their utopian socialist dreams on our great state.
This blog will chronicle the insurgency that is trying to free Oregon from the occupiers' grip by shining a bright light on their most egregious schemes.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

The question the Democrats will not answer

If it is true that Kulongoski knew about Neil Goldschmidt's secret and still involved him deeply in his administration, does it matter?

Over at Jack Bog's blog I asked this question directly to Kari Chisolm of BlueOregon, and he did not respond. (Actually, he responded by saying, "Show me the proof," which is simply a way to avoid responding.

The reason that they won't answer the question is because there is only one answer: If he knew, then he should resign from office in shame.

If the Democrats acknowledge this, then the attention turns to the credibility of the accusation by Leonhardt. I'd love to have an intelligent discussion about the credibility and believability of Leonhardt, and it would be great if the media would do its job and have that discussion in the open. But it ain't going to happen.

The mainstream media is simply not going to cover this story. I've talked personally with Julia Silverman at the AP, Jeff Mapes at the Oregonian, and with more than one TV news desk. The double standard is palpable.

Last week the Oregonian ran a story on the accusations that Ron Saxton hired illegal aliens at his farm a decade ago. There was no evidence at all of the accusation, and the accusation was coming from the Kulongoski camp and his supporters. The story was very prominent, I think on the front page of the Metro section.

Contrast that to the studied indifference to this story. Here we have an accusation made not by a partisan, but by one of Kulongoski's best friends. His story is more than credible (as I have discussed.) And not ONE mainstream media outlet so much as gives it a whisper.

This much is clear: Either Fred Leonhardt is a bald faced liar or Ted Kulongoski is a bald faced lying child-rapist shelterer. This is really the choice.

As citizens and voters, we are asked all the time to make judgments about believability of contradicting stories. There are all sorts of ways we make the judgment: motive of each side; who gains or loses by lying or not lying; the plausibility of the accusation; is the chronology of the events that led to the accusation reasonable; was the accuser in a position to actually know what he says he knows; did he tell anyone else the same thing;

On each and every one of these elements, Fred Leonhardt's story is utterly credible.

You know what? I am actually sad about this, and here is why:

At this point it looks as if we will have another four years of Ted Kulongoski as governor. I know him a little bit and from what I know, I liked the man. Disagreed with him, sure. But I liked him, thought he was honest and had integrity. So even if he won a second term, I thought we'd have a governor who was at least worthy of respect because of his personal and professional accomplishments and his basic decency.

But I believe Fred Leonhardt, and that necessarily means that I conclude that Ted Kulongoski is not only a liar, but that he is lying about something incredibly important. Ted Kulongoski actually knew that Neil Goldschmidt had destroyed the life of a teenage girl by repeatedly raping her over the course of three years, but he decided that his career was more important to him than his pesonal integrity. He decided that the political influence and favors that Goldschmidt could give him was too important to give up by distancing himself from this monster.

So, I am sad because Oregon is likely to have another four years with a governor who I simply cannot respect.

And I am also sad that so many of the folks over at BlueOregon - people who I often engage in energetic debate with, and people whom I also respect - seem to be making essentially the same choice. They are silent on the question of whether Ted Kulongoski knew. They are supporting a person in the governor's office who they know, deep in their conscience, sheltered a rapist, because he is on their team. The political benefits that accrue from being in power are more important.

We often face situations in personal relationships or business relationships where someone deeply disappoints us by some unethical act or malfeasance. I often say at these times: "Well, at least I now know something about him that I didn't know before." It helps to know, because this knowledge informs your future dealings with the person.

That is the situation here. At least I know that Ted Kulongoski willingly traded his integrity for the political gains that would come from a Neil Goldschmidt relationship. And at least now I know that the left in Oregon is virtually unanimous in validating that trade.

This may be the first year I ever didn't vote. I am so disheartened by the system (machine) that keeps these union thugs so firmly in control. It's absolutely going to kill the state and I feel just powerless against it.

That's why it is not being covered because the media does not want to bring down the entire Dmocratic establishment. Yes, immediately it involves two people, Kulongoski and Goldscmidt, but when the Governor is involved and Goldscmidt who controlled the Democratic establishment is involved, boy- No way is the media going to destroy the mythology of an enlightened liberal heritage.

Mythology is a good word to describe the way The Oregonian projects its view of Democrat leadership in Oregon over the past two decades.

The Oregonian burried the original Golscmidt story, and they now demonstrate their attitude: Don't hurt the party, don't undermine the legacy of Democratic accomplishment. This attitude permeates their coverage, what's new, nothing, it's just sad.

The Oregonian can't help it. They are owned by out-of-state billionaire media developer brothers from New York named Newhouse.

The media campaigns against ballot measures and for Kulongoski were proposed, packaged and pushed by out-of-state interests. These shenanigans are brought to you by people who don't live in Oregon and, of course, won't have to live with the results of Tuesday's election. They sit in offices in Manhattan, watching at a comfortable distance the multi-million dollar lab experiments in media bias they are sponsoring against homegrown Oregon politics. It's the Newhouse's money, of course, and they can do what they want with it.

But this election is about your state, not theirs. And only you get to decide what to do with it.

You are correct that Kari (and also TorridJoe) and others are hiding from the truth on this. But what choice do they have? As you so aptly put it, Fred is (almost 100%) not telling a lie.

Even Bernie admitted that he knew of the rumors, but stated that he did not know what he could do, especially since he was screwing Neil's wife and needed the driver & security job that he would no doubt loose if he blew the whistle on the statutory rape case.

What can Kari and TJ do here? Admit that they are backing a man such as Kulo? Kulo's actions may make your skin crawl, but that doesn't faze certain partisan hacks who's whole livelyhood (even self identity?) depends on holding up the Demo cause, no matter how strong the stench.

The key quote to the total integrity of Fred (and his believe-ability) is this: "Ted once told me that Neil didn't know what to think of me "because you never kissed his a*s like the rest of us". Fred goes on to say "I would like those words carved on my tombstone."

Do you really think that Ted has that level of principal? Or backbone? Obviously, he probably wishes he did, or he wouldn't have told Fred that story. But Ted is chained to his ball and chain, and cannot give it up now. And neither can Kari or TJ or any of the other partisan hacks. And it goes without saying that there are Republican hacks on the other side chained to theirs as well, but they get thrown under the bus when they get discovered much more often than Demos are willing to do.

Is suspect that it will be a long four years for Kulo if he wins, because Fred and his truth will not go away just because Ted wins tomorrow. Same as it did not go away for Packwood after he won re-election.